U's:1 Chavs:3 - Revenge of the Cooperman

I'm still angry.

Two days may have passed since the boxing day debacle, but I'm still fuming about the performance of referee Ian Cooper. Leaving the country hasn't even helped matters, so I'm hoping that venting my spleen here will enable me to calm down so I can enjoy the rest my holiday.

All football fans moan about officials, but rarely does the ref wrongly influence the result quite as much as the Cooperman did on Saturday. I'd love to hear him explain some of his decisions; even leaving aside the penalty awarded for an offence which a) wasn't an offence, and b) was apparently outside the box, how could he justify sending Hatswell off when two United players (Willmott and Carden) got bookings for similar offences?

And moreover why did he think it was a good idea to keep blowing up for minor fouls every 30 seconds? You have to wonder whether these moronic officials have ever seen football at this level before, because there is always going to be a lot of physical contact, especially against a side like Stevenage. If you keep giving random fouls for every little clash you're never going to get an entertaining or cohesive match.

We've been at the mercy of the Cooperman before; you may remember him as the official who sent off Ben Farrell at Crawley for the henious crime of falling over then getting back up. He also gave both sides baffling penalties in that match, and one wonders whether these referees who are consistently poor are ever sanctioned by the Conference?

I probably sound very bitter, and I realise that referees have a difficult job. They are bound to make mistakes, as we all do in our work, but part of their job is to keep a clear and objective mind even when a match gets a bit fiesty, as it did on Saturday and in the afforementioned Crawley match. Sadly I'm afraid Mr Cooper has shown he is incapable of doing this; too many times he was conned by the diving antics of Mssrs Odubade and Beardsley, and by the end he seemed to be giving decisions to both sides alternately, regardless of who was the aggressor. While he is so easily influenced he should not be refereeing at this level if you ask me, the incompetent buffoon.

Phew, I feel a lot better now. Hopefully United will cheer me further by picking up a decent result at Mansfield this afternoon. Though with Carden and Saah joining Hatswell on the sidelines I won't be holding my breath.